


I Wish I Had A River

by psychoroach



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gift Giving, Panic Attack, Secret Admirer, Surprise Pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 22:09:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12691170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychoroach/pseuds/psychoroach
Summary: Darcy Lewis is getting secret admirer Christmas gifts the 12 days leading up to Christmas. Who is it?





	I Wish I Had A River

**Author's Note:**

> I want to make a note of a few things before anyone reads this fic. First of all, I hope this doesn't get repetitive, but I had this idea in my head and it wouldn't go away. I'm pretty pleased with what came out. Second of all, yes Civil War happened in this fic. Watching the movie, I was Team Steve, which from what I gather is sort of a minority. I will admit both sides had their bad sides, but I sided with Steve's because I wasn't happy with how Tony approached the whole Sokovia Accords. Tony is in a brief part of this fic, and while I'm not happy with how they've been using him since the Civil War movie, I...did my best to be unbiased. That being said, if you're a rabid Tony apologist, you may want to skip this one. I did what I thought I'd like to see in a movie, as a resolution. Sadly it involves Tony having a pretty terrible panic attack. If you want to skip that part, skip from where he goes into Darcy's office to the next chapter. All you need to know will be in the end notes.

Darcy Lewis walked into her office on December 13th, thinking about how far she'd come. If you ever asked her as a child what she wanted to do with her life...well she would've said she wanted to marry a prince and have access to a large library (it wasn't hard to figure out what her favorite Disney movie was), but later on she fell in love with political science. It all started when she stayed with her grandmother after school while her parents were at work and the whole Clinton scandal broke. Her grandmother watched it religiously, going between saying bad things about the Clintons (even Hillary wasn't above her wrath) to talking about what a "slut" Monica Lewinsky was. That had been an eye opener. Darcy had to ask around to figure out what a slut was, and had been given more than one look of horror because of it. That was also the start of her own colorful vocabulary taking form. She was too young to understand what exactly was going on, but it fascinated her. The president of the United States had done something wrong and a lot of people were up in arms about it. She didn't know too much about the president, but she figured he had to at least be a nice man who always did the right thing (years later in school she found out just how wrong she was) and it rocked her world to see just how wrong her first assumptions could be. Then again, you know what they say about assumptions... 

She never expected to be working out of Stark Tower as the personal Avengers online liaison, but she figured her life got her to this point specifically. It started at Culver where she took the internship for Jane Foster and went from there. She met Thor through that opportunity, and later on Phil Coulson and Clint Barton. After the whole Dark Elves thing Thor put Jane in touch with Tony Stark and before Darcy knew it, they were moving from Tromso, Norway where she'd been trying not to freak out about the impending polar night (being night time for twenty four hours was just wrong and unnatural and reminded her way too much of a vampire movie she watched in college) to being whisked off to New York City and moving into Stark Tower just hours before she was in a meeting with Maria Hill about 'career options'. They'd met for around four hours before Maria figured out the best fit for her and made her sign so many papers that after the fact Darcy had a little line of fuzz at the corner of both eyes and she was pretty sure she'd never be able to hold a coffee cup again. 

She was elected as the personal Avengers online liaison (along with Jane's and Pepper's which was a trip) which meant she handled their online presence. Tweets had to be approved through her (even though Tony bitched about it and tried to get around the software that stopped him from tweeting without her approval) along with Facebook messages, e-mails and Tumblr posts (no one but Darcy and Tony had a Tumblr but should any of the other Avengers ever want one, she'd be the one looking over it). There'd only ever been one massive incident since she started when she approved a series of tweets Steve sent out after Donald Trump was elected president and Darcy steadfastly maintained that he was allowed his opinion even if certain assholes tried to say Captain America needed to be "completely neutral in all political aspects" (looking at you Fury!). So the whirlwind of a shitstorm happened when right wing morons figured out Steve wasn't on their side and Darcy had never been so fascinated with someone's image before. It had simultaneously dipped on one side and risen on the other. Then when he spoke up about lgbt rights and even made an appearance at the New York pride parade forget it. Darcy holed up in her room playing Minecraft and watching episodes of Supernatural and Teen Wolf to bide her time until it all blew over. 

Which is where she is at the present, since everything after that was mostly mundane (except when Thor made a valiant attempt to break the internet by posting a sexy picture of him posing with nothing but a towel carefully covering his little Mjolnir and it had slipped by her approval---turns out she could blame that one on Tony Stark himelf, who convinced the God of Thunder pictures like that were taken and posted online as a sign of good will). She walked into her office sipping her gingerbead latte and noticed a small wrapped package on the edge of her desk. "Um, FRIDAY, is that a bomb? Should I be worried?" 

"No, Darce." FRIDAY piped up in her usual upbeat way, which never failed to make Darcy feel like she was a girlfriend and not a bodyless AI. "I'm not at liberty to say who brought it, under threat of being uploaded with a virus, but it's safe to open." 

"Wouldn't want that." Darcy put down her cup (one of the new Starbucks holiday ones, that she just adored) and picked up the package. It was a fairly small package, light weight, with paper that was mostly black with white snowflakes and reindeer that had red scarves on them. If Darcy was anyone else, she would've eased the paper off and kept it as a keepsake or something, but as it was, she wasn't that girl and she tore it off quickly, her pulse pounding in excitement to see what it was. She gasped in shock when she saw a small book there, very short, with a colorful cover and gold spine. Poky Little Puppy and the Patchwork Blanket was one of her favorite books as a kid and always filled her with a wave of nostalgia when she thought about it. She ran her hand over the cover, trying her best not to cry as she remembered countless times that her mom read the story to her as a child. As it was, she remembered the basic storyline still all these years later and couldn't wait to flip through the book to re-familiarize herself with it. "I don't suppose you'll tell me who it was that gave this to me now, will you?" She asked, voice shaky. 

"Sorry, Darce." FRIDAY said. "Not allowed to do that, because...well it's not the right time." 

Darcy eyed the ceiling speculatively. If she didn't know better, she would've thought that FRIDAY was outright lying to her. 

"Alright." Darcy put the book in her bag and sat at her desk, grabbing her coffee again to get to work. 

\--------------------------------------------------

When Darcy got home the next day (well to her apartment in the same building) she was a little disappointed. Something about how FRIDAY was with her the day before made her think she'd have another present waiting on her, but here it was almost 10 PM and it never came. It had been a shit show of a day, where she had to thwart Tony's plans to invite all the Avengers to an anti-Autism Speaks rally, uploaded around 400 pictures on Pepper's Facebook from the latest Maria Stark Foundation gala and had to have a talk with Steve after he tried to get himself booked on Megyn Kelly's talk show (seriously who gave that raging idiot a talk show?). She sighed as she let herself in and slid her shoes off (Giuseppe Zanotti, a Pepper Potts welcome gift) and took her blazer off before going to change into her favorite pajamas that were purple satin and had polka dots all over them. When she came back, intending on playing a crap shoot with the leftover Chinese in her fridge, she jumped when she noticed items on her coffee table. She shuffled closer and saw that there was two take-out containers, and a to go cup, along with another wrapped present in the same wrapping paper. Darcy huffed out a laugh. "FRIDAY, I don't suppose you'll tell me who left this." 

"No, but the present is safe and the food is better to eat than any of the stuff you have in your refrigerator." FRIDAY answered. 

Darcy snorted as she sat down. "Don't think I didn't hear that judging tone, I didn't realize Tony programmed you with so much sass." FRIDAY stayed silent. She grabbed the present and opened it eagerly, seeing that this time it was a manila folder and on the front was stamped 'Bronx Zoo'. She raised an eyebrow to herself and opened the folder, peeking inside and taking out the papers. She glanced at them and read through the first one, gasping. Whoever her secret gift giver was had gotten her a sponsored animal---specifically a Golden Lion Marmoset. She didn't disclose it very often, but marmosets were her absolute favorite animal, and it made her think through who all knew that fact about her. It didn't narrow it down much, though, considering the people who knew consisted of Jane, the Avengers, Nick Fury, her parents, siblings and a few friends from college. That made her have a terrible thought and her eyes bugged out as she quickly looked up at the ceiling. "FRIDAY, I know you aren't allowed to tell me who the gift giver is, but please just set my fears at ease and tell me it's not Fury." 

"It's not former SHIELD Director Fury." FRIDAY answered, sounding amused. "I won't tell you exactly who it is, but I promise it's not him." 

"Great." Darcy let out a sigh of relief and put the papers back in the folder and set it aside, biting her lip when she thought of what to do with it. She grabbed the takeout containers and opened them, beaming at the smell and what was inside. A little place had opened up that boasted 'authentic Cajun cuisine' and Darcy had always loved New Orleans (even though she'd never been) and had immediately gone and fallen in love with the food. Someone had gotten her all her favorite savory items and a side of beignets, which were her secret indulgence when she had a bad week or a bad day. 

Making her way through the dinner, Darcy looked over the folder. Would it be too dorky to get the picture framed? No, surely not. She could put it in her bedroom, despite what Tony Stark said. "FRIDAY, order me a frame in the size of that picture." She decided. 

"You know boss will have something to say..." She started. 

Darcy waved a hand, cutting her off. "Yeah, yeah he can bring it. No one has to listen to his rule about the only pictures allowed to be put up are ones of him, naked ones being encouraged the most. If he finds out and says something, remind him that Pepper said he couldn't enforce that rule and that if anyone tried to sue him for sexual harassment he wasn't allowed to use the SI lawyers for the case, she'd make him use that guy that has those irritating commercials about putting the axe down on the law." 

"Will do!" FRIDAY chirped. 

Darcy sat and ate until she was stupidly full and went and put the food away, deciding to have it the next day for lunch. She went and did her business in the bathroom, taking out her contacts and putting her glasses on before going to the bedroom. She grabbed the book by her bed (Esther the Wonder Pig: Changing the World One Heart at a Time by Caprice Crane, the reason she was considering giving up most pork) and read another chapter before she felt her eyes get droopy. She put the book down and took her glasses off, rolling over and falling asleep pretty quickly.

\----------------------------------------------------

"I don't care, Steve." Darcy walked into her office, being trailed by said super soldier. "I am not going to help you get booked on her show, even if you want to use the chance to berate her." 

"Darcy have you seen her show?" Steve asked, trying to make his argument. 

"No, I make it a point to...oh yeah be at work working my ass off for all of you." Darcy shot him a look and at least he had the good graces to look abashed at that. "Yeah, you tend to keep me busy, so I can't say I take time out of my schedule to watch Megyn Kelly." Now The Chew was different, but she watched that on her lunch break, so it didn't count. That's what she told herself. 

"She asked someone if Will and Grace made them gay." He emphasised. 

"Ok that...that was a boneheaded move, and I did hear about her asking the goddess Jane Fonda if she'd ever had plastic surgery..." She trailed off. "Still why are you bugging me about this? I handle all your online needs." 

"Do you know what those online needs are?" Steve folded his arms over his chest.

"I do. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and any and all other online forums including e-mail." Darcy mimicked his actions, smirking up at him. 

"Which includes getting us booked for events and booking our hotels for said events." Steve pointed out, smirking back at her. 

Darcy floundered at that. That she hadn't known and she was going to send a strongly worded e-mail to Maria about it once Steve left. But still. "I am not getting you booked on Megyn Kelly!" She threw her hands up. "If you're that spoiling to get booked on something let me book you on Rachael Ray, or The Talk, hell even Ellen, Kimmel, Fallon..." 

"Those are all swell, but I can't do any good on those shows." Steve rolled his eyes. "All they want to talk about is fluff stuff, like if I'm dating or what sort of underwear I wear." 

"I know the answer to those." Darcy grinned mischievously. 

Steve flushed and rolled his eyes. "Darcy, come on..." 

"Steve if you ask me one more time about this, you know those Halloween pictures you're so embarrassed about? The ones where Tony convinced you to be Rocky for the rewatch of Rocky Horror that I scrubbed from the internet before anyone could see? I will leak them again I swear to Thor!" She shouted over him. 

He looked at her horrified and waved his hands quickly. "No, no, no, no..." 

"Good, we've come to an understanding." She sighed. "Look if you want to do some good, do what I've been suggesting to you for ages now and write a book. Everyone out there would love to read your story." 

"Yeah I'm so sure everyone would love to read about a blank seventy years." He snarked. 

Darcy sat at her desk and wished she'd gone to the Starbucks kiosk in the tower before work instead of trying to do her hair in a fancy way. "So do it in a different way, do it like...anime style or something. Draw dynamic pictures and shit, people would eat that up." 

"I'll think about it." Steve looked at his watch. "I have a meeting..." 

"Yes, and I have work, go on, go on." Darcy waved him off. 

He turned to leave and grinned on his way out. "Way to notice your surroundings, if that present on your desk had been a bomb it'd have blown up in your face."

Darcy yelped and looked down, noticing a third present on her desk, which made her beam the second she saw it. It was the same paper as always, making Darcy laugh. "FRIDAY, does this person have an endless supply of this wrapping paper?"

She didn't answer immediately. "I believe they have ordered in bulk." 

Darcy cackled for a few minutes before she took the present and ripped off the paper. Inside was a small box that she opened and peered inside, gasping when she saw the gift. It was a leather alloy wrap bracelet that had different leather bands, a copper plate that said 'Believe' with a skull on the end, a copper musical note, a copper infinity symbol and what looked like a copper tree of some sort. The tree sort of reminded her of one she'd seen Thor draw while explaining the Nine Realms. It made her think as she found the clasp on the bracelet and put it on, staring at it with a smile before sliding it under the sleeve of her shirt. 

\---------------------------------------------------

Darcy opened her door warily, since she'd already changed into her pajamas (flannel this time, in a mix of soft green, blue and lavender with some slippers shaped like bear claws) and sighed in relief when it was Thor. She'd scrubbed her face free of makeup and didn't want certain people seeing all that. Thor was ok, though. She and Thor had been through a lot together so he was allowed to see her bummed out. He was similarly dressed in a pair of pajama pants that had tiny little Mew Mews all over them and a tank top that was a dark grey color and said 'If you're close enough to read this I can beat you up with my pecs.' She had a feeling either Tony or Clint got it for him. "Hey, dude, come on in. Want a drink? I was just watching Farmhouse Rules." She turned around and made her way back to the couch. 

"I thought you did not like the lady you said was a poor excuse for Paula Deen." Thor said, amused, going to pull her legs up and sit down himself. She saw him set something beside him but missed what it was. 

"I don't." She insisted, making a face. "I think she's fake and when she judges on competitions she acts like her opinion is the only one that matters and it bugs the hell out of me. But if I sit through this then there's two hours of Southern at Heart and you know of my love of Damaris Phillips. I have such a lady crush on her." 

"Aye." He said. "You have told me many stories of your lady crush." He smiled indulgently. 

"So what brings you by? Not that I don't like it, you can come hang out anytime, you know that." She waved a hand.

"I have been asked to deliver you something." He reached beside him and she squeaked when she saw the familiar wrapping paper and large package. She reigned in the urge to yank it from him and set it on her lap, staring down at it. 

"Thor, can I ask you something?" She asked, peeking up at him. 

"I would hope that you know you can." He rubbed her calf gently. 

"Are you the one giving me all these gifts?" She blurted out. 

He grinned at her. "Gifts?" 

She snorted and waved the present at him. "First I got my favorite book from my childhood, then I got a monkey adopted on my behalf from the zoo..." 

"You have a pet?" He looked around wide eyed with excitement. 

"Not exactly, I'll explain it to you later." She patted his arm. "Then I got this." She held up her wrist to show him the bracelet she barely ever took off. "Now you bring me..." 

"It is not me." He said. 

"I had a feeling." She admitted. 

"You know my heart belongs to Brunhilde." He pointed out. 

"A girl has to cover her bases." Darcy shrugged. "Speaking of, how is short, brunette and kick ass?" 

Thor beamed. "She is well, she is waiting on me in my chambers, but I had to deliver this first and I have to admit, I am curious as to what it is." 

"Well let's not make your lady love wait any longer then." Darcy opened the paper and saw a box inside, and she looked at Thor in askance and he gripped the cardboard on each side and ripped it open easily. Darcy thanked him and pulled side sides apart to see what was inside. When she saw, she gasped out loud and a hand flew to her face as she tried not to flail her legs (she'd done that once in this exact predicament and it had ended with Thor claiming she had two ways to 'best him' as he hobbled off to find some ice to put on his Asgardian jewels). Her secret gift giver had given her the Philosophy 8 piece holiday shower gel set. It was all there: Pink Chocolate Macaroons, Fresh Cream, Snow Angel, Orange Cocoa and Cream, Lemon Custard, Shimmering Snowlace, Snowman, and Marzipan Dreams. Darcy was stunned almost speechless. She'd seen this set a few times on QVC's Friday Night Beauty and it was always far too expensive for her to attempt to buy it for herself (she made great money doing her job but at heart she was a thrifty girl from Pennsylvania) and she couldn't believe someone had spent sixty something bucks on her for one gift. 

"May I ask what all of this is?" Thor picked up one of the bottles and looked at it curiously.

Darcy got herself under control and took a few breaths before she spoke up. "It's a bath wash, sort of like that ridiculously expensive one you have FRIDAY buy you." She explained. "Except this one is...more natural and subtle with its scents." 

Thor opened the bottle curiously and sniffed it. "This is nice. Your secret admirer must want you to smell good." He flashed her a playful grin. 

Darcy whacked him on the arm. "Excuse you, I almost always smell good. The only exception being after Natasha gets ahold of me in the gym, but no one smells good after they work up a sweat." 

Thor grinned and held his arms up in surrender. "I mean no harm, you are right, you have a very pleasant smell." 

"Don't you have a beloved to go bug?" Darcy asked playfully.

Thor eased her legs off his lap and stood up. "I do not think Brunhilde thinks it bugging when..." 

"Shush!" Darcy threw the wadded up Christmas wrapping paper at him, trying not to laugh. "I don't need to hear a thing about your sex life." 

Thor kissed her fondly on the forehead and bid his goodbye, throwing the paper in the garbage on his way out. 

Darcy looked at her new body washes and gave into the impulse to sniff them all, gushing to herself over how good they all smelled and knowing it would be hard to figure out which one to use at any given time. She thought about going to get a shower even though she'd already taken one, but when she looked at the clock it was already after 10 and she had to be up by 6 so she told herself she'd take an extra long shower the next day.

\----------------------------------------------------

Darcy laughed as she almost tripped over a wrapped gift on her way to work the next morning. Considering she got her last present so late the night before, she wondered how early the person had to get up this morning to deliver this. That made her pause to consider if Thor had left it for her to find. She thought that over but realized she didn't care and needed to get to work. She went and grabbed herself a Starbucks and went to her desk. She ripped open the paper and used a letter opener to hack into the box. She beamed and held in a squeal when she saw there was multiple packages of Jolly Rancher's Awesome Reds packages. Dozens of the little candies in cherry, watermelon, strawberry and fruit punch flavors which were most of her favorite flavors (save for green apple, which she had to be in the mood for). 

Seeing all those made her wonder just exactly who was giving her these gifts. She didn't exactly let it spread around what her favorite candy was, so it had to be someone specific, she just couldn't figure out who that could be. 

She was brought out of her thoughts when a hand reached past her and snatched up one of the candies, causing her to yelp a bit in shock. She looked up and saw Tony Stark standing there, smirking at her as he popped it in his mouth. "So I hear you've been getting all these neat little gifts."

"Yes, and did anyone ever tell you you're really nosy?" Darcy put the box down by her feet, selfishly not wanting him to try and snatch up another piece of candy. 

"I am not, I just like knowing everything that goes on in my tower." Tony scoffed.

"Avengers Tower." Darcy corrected.

"I never agreed to that." Tony folded his arms over his chest. 

"Yes, you did, because Pepper and Fury and whoever the new Director of SHIELD is decided it for you, so you have no choice." Darcy pointed out smugly. She tolerated Tony on a good day, so it was nice to give him shit sometimes. 

"You know, I could fire you." Tony narrowed his eyes at her. "You mouth off to me, you're incompetent at your job..."

Darcy snorted. "I think you mean competent at my job, you're just pissy that you have to have your online presence approved by me. Also you can't fire me, only Pepper can, it's in my contract..." 

"I never agreed to that." Tony cut in. 

"You don't have to." Darcy repeated, slowly like she was speaking to a toddler, which she felt like Tony acted like some days. "I don't even care actually. Why are you here anyway?" 

"I cancelled that order you made with FRIDAY, it was a stupid order and it wasn't needed." Tony said petulantly.

"Tony you can't do that!" Darcy exclaimed. 

"Can, did, would do it again." Tony said simply, rolling his eyes at her. 

Darcy shot him a murderous look as she reached out and pressed the speaker phone and the number for Pepper. "Darcy, how can I help you?" Pepper answered after a few rings. 

"I'm calling in that favor." Darcy said simply. 

Pepper sighed over the speaker. "Is he there?" 

"Yes." Darcy grit out through her teeth. "And he's bringing up the picture thing, so I'm very close to actually wanting that lawsuit."

"Anthony Edward Stark!" Pepper exclaimed through the speaker, causing Tony to wince. "I have had just about enough of this..." 

"Pepper, you don't understand..." Tony started. 

"Oh no, I understand." Pepper was firm but there was a fondness in it that Darcy couldn't understand. "After the Chitauri thing and..."

"You said we weren't going to talk about that in front of other people." Tony said quickly.

"You forced my hand." Pepper said simply. "After that I knew you weren't coping, and I knew it even more with the Ultron thing, I mean seriously Tony..." 

"That wasn't my fault Ultron went rogue, Banner..." Tony argued, looking incensed. 

"Oh yes it was, don't blame Bruce on this." Pepper said in a deadly tone. "We've talked extensively about it, which is a lot more than I can say about you talking about anything. I know how you basically bullied him into helping you make it. You took complete advantage of that man and look where it got you." 

"He knew what he was getting into." Tony muttered. 

"Did he know when you teamed up with the man that has been making his life hell to make up the Sokovia Accords?" Pepper asked. Even Darcy winced at that one, but Pepper had a point. "Did he know you were going to do that?" 

"He wasn't there, he was on some space adventure." Tony replied in a snarky manner. "The Accords were fine, if Rogers and his merry band of idiot misfits had just listened to me..." 

"That's the thing with you, Tony." Pepper said. "You want everyone to listen to you, you want everyone to bend to your will. If you had just started off the entire thing by talking to Steve and the others about something like the Accords, all of that would've gone very differently." 

"He took the side of the man who killed my mom!" Tony thundered loudly, and Darcy was a little afraid he was going to start trashing her office. 

"I understand that and it must've been hard for you to come to terms with." Pepper said and there was the return of the fondness. "But you also won't come to terms with the fact that the poor man was brainwashed at the time. He may have done the actions, which Steve can't come to terms with either, since you're both so insanely stubborn it makes me want to rip my hair out sometimes, but he wasn't in control of those actions at the time. James Barnes was the longest active prisoner of..."

"Oh don't give me that prisoner of war bullshit." Tony cut in snidely. 

"But it's true, Tony." Pepper said. "No matter how much you want to hate him for what he did, and I understand that hatred and would never think to try and force you two to become anything more than ships passing in the night, he was a prisoner of HYDRA. He did things against his will because he had no choice." 

"I don't give a shit." Tony said, rolling his eyes. 

"I know you don't." Pepper said. "You don't give a shit about a lot, and it's made you a shell of the man I met all those years ago. Which is why effective immediately, you are taken off any and all SI duties." 

"WHAT?!" Tony yelled, gaping. "You can't do that!" 

"I can, and I am." Pepper said simply. "I'm also enacting that code you enforced with FRIDAY to lock you out of all your Iron Man suits." 

"Pepper, what if..." Tony put a hand to his chest and Darcy didn't like the way he was breathing. 

"Tony." Pepper cut in. "If something comes up, they'll handle it without you, in fact they make a better team without you right now anyway. Now these are the terms. If you want your position and your armors back, you have to go to extensive therapy. I'm not talking out patient either..." There was a pause and when Pepper spoke again, she sounded sad. "I'm talking about in patient, staying there to work out problems you've had since your dad." 

"That's not fair!" Tony exclaimed. "Why do I have to go to therapy and Rogers doesn't? That's not fucking fair, damn it!" He whacked his hands on Darcy's desk, making her jump.

"Tony, he does go to therapy." Pepper said calmly. "He goes three times a week actually to a SHIELD appointed therapist. He used to go four times, but he's been cut down because he's making progress." 

"You can't do this! I'll sue! This is all unfair, all of you have it in for me, I swear to God!" Tony raged. 

Darcy looked up when someone came into the office and she saw that it was Happy, who walked over and took Tony's arm. "Pep, it's me, I have it from here, I'll escort him..." 

"Thank you, Happy." Pepper said, trying to sound professional. 

Tony raged about betrayal and how he thought Happy was his friend, even as the other man dragged him from Darcy's office. She sat there shell shocked about having watched Tony have a literal break down right in front of her. She was so stunned she missed Pepper calling her name. "Uh...yeah, yeah, Pepper?" 

"Why don't you take the rest of the day off." Pepper suggested gently. "I know all of that had to be very hard for you to witness, so don't worry about work. In fact, take tomorrow off anyway. I'm going to help take Tony to the facility I've already had picked out and then take the rest of the day off myself, and then tomorrow I'm going to draft press releases to the public and to the employees and board members of SI." 

"Are you sure you don't want my help with that, apparently according to Steve I'm supposed to be doing more than I thought." Darcy tried to joke, but it came off flat. 

Pepper chuckled warmly and Darcy thought maybe it was an act to disarm her rattled feelings. "I'm sure, don't worry about it, this is what I do. Now, go on, change into some comfortable clothes and...do something fun and relaxing." 

"Alright, if you insist." Darcy mumbled.

"I do, and let me know if you need anything." Pepper said caringly. 

"I will." Darcy promised. She cut off the speaker phone and sat there for a few minutes before grabbing up her candy and leaving the office. She wasn't exactly aware of things as she rode up the elevator to her floor, but she managed to let herself into her space and put her candy down. She went and dressed in her 'period wear' as she liked to call it, consisting of a cotton soft oversized Beatles shirt she bought at Hot Topic ages ago that was buttery soft and some pajama pants that had seen better days, had holes in the knees, and were once a nice red color that had faded into terracotta. Then she scrubbed her makeup off and piled her hair in a messy bun on top of her head. 

Once she'd changed, Darcy thought to herself what to do and she finally got an idea. "FRIDAY, uh, is Clint in his quarters?"

"He is, Darce." She sounded more gentle than normal, as if she knew Darcy was feeling a little fragile herself. "He doesn't seem to be busy either, do you want me to contact him?" 

"No, no. I'll go up." Darcy decided. She walked out of her room and rode the elevator up to the top most floor of the residential areas, which housed Clint's apartment, Natasha's apartment and a free one. She knocked softly on Clint's door and waited for him to answer. 

He answered quickly, only a few seconds later, frowning as he looked her over. Darcy took a second to notice he was in a soft looking grey shirt and a pair of well worn looking jeans, barefoot. "What's wrong?" 

"What? Is that anyway to greet someone? No 'hi Darcy', no 'what's up' Darcy?" Darcy quipped as he let her in. "Straight to the interrogation." 

"Well let's see, you're wearing your period clothes." Clint pointed out. "Your face is scrubbed of makeup, your hair is pulled up..." 

"Ok, ok, I get it, I look like crap." Darcy sighed. 

"I never said that." Clint said quickly.

"No, I know." Darcy said quietly. "Can you keep a secret?" 

"Darcy, I'm a former SHIELD agent, I have secrets from before you were born." Clint pointed out, not-so-subtly leading her over to the couch. "What's going on?" 

Darcy took a deep breath and fiddled with her hands, telling Clint what happened earlier as he settled on the couch beside her. She didn't leave anything out, telling him everything, even though it made her shake with adrenaline that hadn't left her body since the whole thing happened. 

Once she was done, Clint whistled lowly under his breath. "Damn, Stark." He muttered. "I mean, I was dealing with my own shit during the whole Chitauri thing, but I figured something wasn't right with him during the Ultron thing, but I didn't judge because I've pushed things down more than once in my life."

"You had Phil to make you go to therapy." Darcy pointed out.

Clint winced, but hid it with a laugh. "Yeah he was good at that." He agreed. He squeezed her arm and changed the subject. "Look, I know all that with Tony freaked you out." She opened her mouth, but he plowed on before she could protest. "But this is a good thing. He's slowly been going down hill over the years and he's no longer a functioning anything. Maybe this will give him the kick in the ass he needs to get better." 

Darcy fiddled with a strand of her hair as she sat there, her mind going a mile a minute. "Yeah, I guess so." 

"Hey." Clint caught her hand. "Stay here tonight, I don't like you being alone. I'll make us some dinner later, we'll watch a marathon of terrible movies, you can sleep on the couch." 

Darcy snorted, but laughed quietly. "Alright, but are you sure about the making dinner part?" 

Clint rolled his eyes. "Ok, fine, I'll get FRIDAY to order us some dinner, how about that?" 

"Sounds good, thanks, Clint." Darcy wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. 

"You're welcome." Clint smiled against her hair.

\--------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Darcy let Clint pop some waffles into the toaster and they had coffee before she was distinctly aware of her own funk. She made up an excuse about needing to do a load of washing and made her leave, going back to her own apartment. She warily walked up to her door when she noticed an envelope on it with her name scrawled across the front in blocky letters she didn't recognize. She opened her mouth to ask FRIDAY about it, but figured if it was one of her secret admirer Christmas presents, she'd be pretty tight lipped. 

Tearing open the envelope, Darcy opened the folded letter inside and her eyes bugged out of her head. She'd been gifted a full spa day at one of the local exclusive spas, complete with a body wrap, aromatherapy, a facial, hair appointment, massage, nail appointment, exfoliating and 'a healthy but fulfilling lunch'. "FRIDAY, what time is it?" She asked. 

"It's currently 8:15." FRIDAY intoned.

"Damn Barton for waking up so early." Darcy mumbled. She realized her first appointment was at 9:30 and cursed, running into her apartment. She took the world's fastest shower and put on some casual clothes before heading down to get a driver to take her to the place, hoping she wasn't going to be late to her first appointment. 

She wound up staying all day, and by the time she got back to the Tower, the previous day's drama was just a blip in her mind. She felt more relaxed than she had in ages and she smiled to herself as she let herself into her apartment. "Hey, FRIDAY?" 

"Yeah, Darce?" FRIDAY answered.

"I know you won't tell me who's doing all this for me, but can you tell them thank you? I really needed today." Darcy mumbled. 

"I will deliver the message." FRIDAY promised.

\--------------------------------------------------

Another envelope waited for Darcy, shoved under her door, when she woke up and she laughed quietly to herself as she walked over and picked it up. This one had a piece of the wrapping paper the presents had been coming in haphazardly stuck to it, and she shook her head as she opened it up, curious as to what was inside. She laughed again when she saw that it was a coupon for 'one free distraction for any Avenger currently driving you insane'. Whoever was giving her these presents really knew her pretty well and it was nice, and made her feel good. "FRIDAY, what's on the agenda today?" 

"I am glad you asked." FRIDAY answered. "The Avengers are currently out of the tower on what Miss Potts called a message of good will. Since the boss went to a therapy facility..." Darcy's heart clenched as she remembered what happened two days ago. "She thought a distraction after the news broke was in order, so she sent them to..." 

"Basically do a lot of good deeds and show off." Darcy finished knowingly. 

"Thor and Barton are helping Habitat For Humanity, Captain Rogers is volunteering to read to children at a few local libraries, Miss Romanoff is undercover at a soup kitchen as Natalie Rushman since it was one of the covers she had that wasn't blown during her leaking of sensitive SHIELD files and Barnes...well he's still in his quarters, not yet comfortable with doing anything out in the public. He didn't want to be a distraction." FRIDAY informed her. 

"Huh. Interesting." Darcy mused. "Hey, I don't suppose you can give me eyes on Thor and Barton, can you?" 

In response, her TV flickered on and she saw the site of the habitat Thor and Clint were at. Thor was wearing a black hoodie with an olive colored t-shirt underneath and some jeans as he leaned against a wall being put up, regaling those around him with a story of some sort. If Darcy had to guess, it was either the time he went into battle against the Frost Giants, or the time Loki disguised himself as a snake and scared the crap out of him. Darcy scanned around and found Clint and nodded to herself. Frost Giants it was since Clint didn't look like he wanted to beat Thor over the head with a two by four. Speaking of her favorite resident archer, he was in a distressed looking leather type hoodie that only he could pull off, with some kind of faded red shirt underneath, paired with some black jeans and black work boots. She shook her head when she saw that he was up high doing something, talking with a few of the workers as he did so. She mourned the fact that he was in a jacket, since it meant she couldn't see his arms, but figured it was ok since him not getting sick from being outside in the cold was more important. 

Darcy relaxed when she saw that everyone seemed to be doing ok and went and took a shower. She paused in grabbing out any clothes and looked around. "FRIDAY, since the Avengers are out, and I assume Pepper is handling damage control..." 

"She told you to take an extra day off." FRIDAY answered, seemingly knowing what she was asking. 

"Goodie." Darcy threw on some yoga pants and a soft Ewoks t-shirt she got off 80's Tees and clicked her tongue. "FRIDAY, can you ask Bucky if he would like to come bake with me?" 

It was a few minutes before Darcy got an answer in the form of a monitor popping on with Bucky's face on it. He had his hair up and looked adorably rumpled and wary. "What kind of baking?" 

Darcy snorted and rolled her eyes. "Christmas cookies. I tend to like doing them around Christmas and since there's just five days until Christmas, I thought I'd get a crack on a few recipes." 

"Are you doing gingerbread?" Bucky asked, eyeing her. 

"I could be persuaded. Did you just wake up?" Darcy questioned.

"No. Steve woke me up before he left, trying to get me to go with him. Can you imagine? Me going with him to interact with a bunch of kids?" Bucky grumbled.

"I don't think it'd be the...never mind." Darcy said. "Do you want to come bake with me or not?" 

"I'll be there in fifteen. Figure the least I can do is shower. You ain't gonna make me wear one of those awful Christmas sweaters are you?" Bucky asked. 

Darcy stepped back a bit from the monitor. She gestured to her clothes. "Do I look like I'd try and make you wear an ugly Christmas sweater?" She snarked. "Besides, I doubt I can make you do anything." 

"Eh I'd probably let you." Bucky ran a hand through his hair. "Give me fifteen." 

"Come when you're ready." Darcy said, and she laughed when Bucky got up and walked off, FRIDAY turning the monitor off. 

Since Darcy wanted to make some sugar cookies and Bucky all but demanded gingerbread, she made sure she had everything she needed. She did and she laid it all out, along with a baking scale, her standing mixer (it was Food Network quality in eggplant) and a few other bits and bobs she thought she'd need. When there was a knock, Darcy asked FRIDAY to let Bucky in and he came in, scowling. "Don't you know how bad an idea it is to just open your door to anyone without finding out who it is first?" He grumbled. She looked him over and smiled at the fact that he was wearing a blue-grey t-shirt that had some kind of artful faded design on he front and some jeans. 

"Ok well one, I was expecting you and it's been pretty much exactly fifteen minutes." Darcy ticked off. She briefly leaned in to see if he took a shower and was impressed to find that he smelled clean. "Second we live in the most secure building in all of New York, if not the United States, so no one is getting in here that doesn't belong in here." 

"You're very trusting." Bucky muttered.

"And you're very not." Darcy poked his nose. "Are you going to let me put you in an apron?"

"No." Bucky said honestly. "'s why I wore the clothes I did." 

"Fair enough." Darcy answered. "So sugar cookies first, or gingerbread?" 

"Well if we're decorating, then the gingerbread." Bucky walked over to the counter and looked everything over. 

"Good idea." Darcy agreed, following him and starting to work. 

\--------------------------------------------------------

Darcy rolled out of bed on December 20th and dressed for work. She figured it wouldn't be very busy, but she was getting sick of having off days. Besides, the 24th was her last official day until January 1st so she needed to do what she could. She walked into her office with a peppermint latte and saw a gift sitting by her keyboard, making her smile. She sat down and eyed the now familiar looking wrapping paper like an old friend almost and took it and unwrapped it. She gasped out loud when she got the box inside open. Inside of it was a delicate looking glass snow globe, glass from the globe part down to the base. Inside of the globe was a glass reindeer and fawn and it made her tear up looking at it. She gently shook the globe and watched the fake snow swirling around the two figures inside and it made her think of one of her favorite holiday movies, Edward Scissorhands. 

She put the globe down in a place where it wouldn't get broken and stared at it for several long minutes before she booted up her computer and got to work. She'd been sent some things in her e-mail to look over and saw that she had three different files of pictures. One was of Thor and Clint and their work with Habitat for Humanity, the next was of Steve going around to the libraries and reading to the children and the last was Natasha at the soup kitchen. She spent longer than she probably should've, pouring over every picture, a smile on her face. She knew as superheroes, they saved the world and enjoyed what they did, including getting the fan recognition for it (ok so maybe Steve didn't like that so much since it meant he had to get up at ass crack in the morning to go on a run but it was the little sacrifices) and she knew all of them enjoyed what they'd been given to do.

Darcy brought up the Facebook pages in different tabs and spent the next few hours uploading most of the pictures in the files (some of them just weren't all that great or interesting in her opinion and the public didn't need seventeen different pictures of Steve that looked practically the same with only minute differences) to the Facebook pages of each member. She got it done at almost lunch time and then went on their separate Twitter pages and made up a generic tweet that linked to the Facebooks so that she made sure everyone who wanted to see the pictures would be given a chance to. 

Satisfied with herself, Darcy called down to a restaurant that was on the first floor of the tower and had some lunch brought up (turkey club sandwiches, pickles, potato chips and a diet Dr. Pepper) and brought up the youtube pirated version of A Nightmare Before Christmas to watch as she ate. 

\--------------------------------------------------

Darcy was on the treadmill the next day (yes she worked out, fuck off) when she noticed Clint coming into the room, carrying a very familiarly wrapped present. Her heart sped up and she gaped at him, even as he approached while she still had her earbuds in her ear, Mariah Carey wailing about 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'. She hastily pulled them out and flashed Clint what she hoped was a smile. "Hey, what's up?" 

"I was told by a little elf to give this to you." Clint said, watching as Darcy stopped the treadmill so she didn't fall and bust her head open. 

"Oh were you?" Darcy held her hands out. 

"Careful, it's heavy, must be something delicate in it." Clint said, handing the gift over.

Darcy took it and rested it on the treadmill, tearing into it. She opened the box inside and gasped. Inside was a variety of different Christmas mugs. There were four that were white and had poinsettias on them, four that were red and had white abstract Christmas ornaments with green handles and bases, two that had Father Christmas on them and a background that almost reminded her of one of Steve's Captain America outfits, and one that was in a red flannel pattern that said 'let it snow' in gold cursive. "Oh my God, these are amazing!" Darcy exclaimed, beaming. "I love them so much!"

"Looks like you got a stalker." Clint cracked, watching her look the mugs over.

Darcy whacked him on the arm. "I do not have a stalker, I have a secret admirer." She told him about the gifts showing up and the places they had. 

Clint shrugged when she was done. "Dunno, sounds like a stalker to me." 

"You do not have a romantic bone in your body, Mr. Barton." Darcy said playfully.

Clint smirked at her. "No, but you could have..." 

"If you even dare finish that sentence I'll tell Natasha who it was that stole her alcohol stash." Darcy cut him off with a look. 

Clint snapped his mouth shut and flashed her an innocent look.

"That's what I thought." Darcy laughed. "Hey, I saw the pictures from the Avengers Good Will tour. It was nice of you to go help build that house." 

Clint shrugged and looked down at the floor, which was his classic move when he was embarrassed or uncomfortable talking about something. "I had fun, but Thor did most of the work. I just put my head down and hammered some nails." 

"Well either way, I think you hammering those nails meant a lot." Darcy said honestly. 

Clint smiled up at her. "I'm happy to help. Hey you wouldn't want to grab lun..." Before he started, the Avengers Assemble alarm blared and he scowled up at the ceiling. "Really? Bad guys can't even take off the fuckin' holidays?" 

"Saving the city waits for no one." Darcy patted his arm. "Go on, the sooner you get going, the faster you can get back." 

\--------------------------------------------------

Darcy spent most of the next day out, getting a few last minute Christmas presents. The Avengers hadn't been back when she left, but as far as FRIDAY knew, everything was going 'just fine' so she didn't worry about it too much. So she went to the mall, even though it was a mad house since it was December 22nd and braved the crowd to get everything she needed to get. She should've gone out on Black Friday, but after reading stories of people being pepper sprayed, tazed, beaten up, bitten, shot, and what else have you, she wasn't brave enough unless she had an Asgardian bodyguard going with her (or Steve or Bucky, she wasn't picky, she just thought maybe Thor would've been easier to convince) but he'd been off world meeting Brunhilde's parents at the time and Darcy had stayed safely inside eating Thanksgiving leftovers.

Once she got inside the building, FRIDAY told her that the Avengers were back safe and sound and most of them were catching up on sleep and asked not to be disturbed. Darcy chuckled to herself and agreed, heading up to her apartment. She stopped in front of the door and looked down at what was sitting in front of it with a giddy little bit of excitement. It was an arrangement of 'Christmas flowers' that made her heart burst out of her chest. There was red amaryllis, red poinsettia, white Christmas roses and a little Christmas cactus tucked in the middle. She picked it all up, juggling it with her shopping bags and deposited it on her counter before she went and changed, putting her gifts away to be wrapped later.

She went back to the flowers and noticed the paper wrapped around them was the same she'd gotten used to, and she smiled brightly, humming 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas' as she grabbed the little cactus container and put it on her windowsill (fake over the sink in the kitchen) and put the flowers in a vase, putting them on her meager dining table she never used. 

She spent some time just gazing at them before she put the tea kettle on to warm up so she could have some hot chocolate and settle down with The Polar Express to wait until she figured it was a good time to go bug everyone about how the mission went. 

\--------------------------------------------------

Darcy devoted the 23rd to present wrapping. She knew she was probably behind and needed to get it all done. The Avengers would be having their Christmas party on the 24th and the 25th would be a nice dinner for anyone who didn't have plans. So she needed to get on the move so she could dole out the presents she needed to the next day. She had a crockpot going on her stove top that had some nice smelling things that she found on Pinterest that wafted through her apartment and put her in a festive mood, and she had the NSYNC Christmas album playing over the speakers. 

She was just contemplating taking a break when there was a crisp knock on her door. She pushed herself up with a slight groan and went and opened it, seeing Maria Hill standing there, looking as professional as ever, except for the wrapped present under her arm. "I was told to give this to you, I hope this isn't going to become a thing." She held the gift out to Darcy.

Darcy laughed as she took it. "Well considering in two days it's Christmas, I doubt it will." She offered.

"Good, so what's inside?" Maria asked, eyeing it curiously. 

"Do you want to come find out?" Darcy held the door open for her. 

"Actually, yes, I do." Maria stepped in and looked around. "Saving the wrapping until last minute, huh?" 

"Ugh, yes. What about you? Do you have all of yours done?" Darcy asked curiously.

Maria shot her a light smirk. "Come on, Darcy, do I look like someone who can wrap Christmas gifts? I had all mine wrapped down at the mall."

"Damn it, I knew I should've done that!" Darcy sighed. 

Maria shook her head. "Open your present and I may be persuaded to help you out." 

"I thought you didn't wrap presents." Darcy eyed her. 

"I know how, I just don't like doing it." Maria walked over and sat down near where Darcy had been on the floor. 

"Is that something SHIELD taught you?" Darcy asked curiously, sitting across from her.

Maria laughed at that. "I can't say it is." She admitted. "Actually, my mother was very into the holidays. She was a beautiful gift wrapper and she taught me everything she knew." Darcy looked over at her already wrapped gifts and wondered if Maria would kill her if she unwrapped them just to have her re-wrap them in a pretty way. "Yes, I will." 

Darcy looked at her wide eyed. "I didn't even say anything!" 

"It was written all over your face." Maria shrugged. "Come on, Lewis, open that damn thing or I'll open it for you. I know who gave it to you and I want to see what their taste is like." 

Darcy thought about trying to weasel out of her who it was that gave her the gift to give to her but she knew Maria had faced better people at trying to weasel stuff out of somebody than her so she just opened the present, slicing through the box with a pair of scissors she had laying close. "Oooh!" She lifted out a black diffuser that looked vaguely Indian and looked it over before she noticed something else in the box. She took it out curiously and looked it over, seeing that it was a set of oils. They were labeled Dreamy Sleep, Tropical Island, Romantic Paradise, Mellow Mind, Breathe Again and Health Guard. She looked up at Maria who raised an eyebrow and she gave into the temptation and opened each bottle, sniffing each one. "So did you expect said person to get me this as a gift?" 

"No, actually." Maria admitted, watching her. "I didn't. But...that's a good thing. Now let's wrap the rest of these gifts, before you perfume the place so bad I'm going to have to call in a stink bomb." 

"You can't even smell them all the way over there and over the scent coming from the kitchen!" Darcy laughed.

Maria grinned at her. "You don't know that." 

\----------------------------------------------------

Darcy looked at herself in her full length mirror and let out a low whistle. It was almost time for the Avengers holiday party and she'd just finished getting ready. She looked all over New York for the right dress and she finally found it, and splurged way more than she'd intended, in a shop that Natasha had suggested to her. It was actually a skirt and top look, in all red. The top had a sweetheart neckline that swept low and showed off the girls well, but wasn't completely whorish in any way, and had a peplum waist. The skirt was a simple pencil skirt and ended just below her knees. She paired it with some plain nude peep toed heels and a touch of red lipstick on top of an otherwise understated makeup job. She left her hair in a soft wavy look and thought she looked amazing if she did say so herself.

She grabbed her clutch and walked out of her apartment, taking the elevator down to the main floor of the building where the party seemed to already be in full swing. She put her clutch down where she knew it wouldn't be bothered and went and snagged a glass of red wine, sipping at it as she looked the display of hors d'oeuvrs over to see if anything stuck out to her. 

"Damn, Darcy, don't you look gorgeous." She heard a voice pipe up behind her and she turned, smiling when she saw Clint. He was dressed in black dress pants and a black blazer over a dark slate blue soft looking sweater and a black button up. 

"I could say the same about you." She said, barely managing to drag her eyes up to look at his face. "You clean up real well, Clint." 

"Yeah, I guess for a former carnie, I don't do so bad, huh?" Clint joked.

"Natasha help you pick it out?" Darcy asked knowingly. 

"Actually Maria did." Clint said honestly, laughing quietly. "She barged into my apartment at like midnight..."

"Brave lady." Darcy raised an eyebrow. 

"Tell me about it. She made me go through all my clothes and laid this out for me. I thought for a second about not wearing it just to piss her off..." Clint admitted.

"But you didn't think that was wise since she's...is she hanging onto Steve's arm?" Darcy's other eyebrow shot up. 

"That she is." Clint turned to look at the couple. Maria was in a basic black dress and Steve was in black pants and his trusty blue button up. 

"When did that happen?" Darcy asked curiously.

"From what Natasha tells me, they began getting closer around the DC thing." Clint explained, grabbing a glass of champagne. "And she has no timeline for when they officially got together but she thinks it's around the time we had that karaoke competition..."

"And Steve killed Don't Stop Believing and she did a pretty modest job of Nine to Five." Darcy cut in.

Clint mock pouted at her. "Hey, what about my rendition of Dead or Alive?" 

"It was very, very commendable." Darcy patted him on the arm. Actually she'd practically melted over the performance and she was pretty sure Clint's voice was the reason she had to change out of her panties when she got home that night, but she wasn't about to tell him that.

"Commendable my ass. What do the young people say these days? I slayed that song." Clint snorted into his champagne, rolling his eyes lightly. 

Joni Mitchell's River started and Darcy's eyes lit up. "Well, you may can sing, but how are your dancing skills?" 

Clint's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Oh no, I'll step all over..."

"No you won't, come on." Darcy put her glass down and grabbed Clint's (after he downed the rest in one gulp) and put it aside, dragging him down to the makeshift dance floor. She leaned into him as he pulled her close, swaying along to the song and she closed her eyes. The feel of his body against hers was nice, and she wasn't sure what sort of cologne he had on, but it was a nice masculine scent that fit him well and that she thought made her toes curl. Darcy got lost in the song and before she knew it, she was singing along to it. "He tried hard to help me, he put me at ease. Lord, he loved me so naughty, made me weak in the knees. Oh I wish I had a river, I could skate away on." She realized what she'd sang and flushed bright red when she saw Clint raising an amused eyebrow at her and she nudged him lightly. 

Clint surprised her not too long later, by singing the last of the song, right in her ear. "It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees. They're putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace. I wish I had a river, I could skate away on..." 

Darcy pulled back and stared at him, mesmerized. Their eyes locked and they got lost in each other and just as Darcy thought he was leaning in to kiss her, Pepper called out that it was time to open presents.

Darcy didn't get to talk to Clint for the rest of the night. It seemed like after gifts he'd disappeared somewhere. She tried not to feel disappointed as she went back to her apartment and let herself inside. She saw a wrapped gift in the middle of the floor and squeaked as she went over and picked it up, eyeing it. She opened it quickly and smiled when she saw the Christmas sweater inside. Technically she guessed it was supposed to be an 'ugly' Christmas sweater but she thought it looked nice. It was a soft heather grey with dark green diamond patterns and red reindeer. She held it to her and marveled at how soft it was. Just as she was about to throw away the box it came in, she noticed a note inside. 

__

Darcy, 

I know you've probably been curious as to who's been giving you these Christmas presents the last 11 days, but I want you to know the time has come to reveal myself...tomorrow. I want you to wear this and come to the roof of the tower at midnight. It's going to be cold out, so maybe add a scarf and one of your adorable knit hats, too.

Love,

Your Secret Admirer

Darcy shrieked to herself, glad the walls were soundproof and got up, darting to her bedroom. She changed into her pajamas and dug around her closet to find the perfect outfit to wear with her new sweater. She decided on some dark wash jeans with black boots, a dark blue button up and, as suggested, one of her knit caps in the same shade of grey as the sweater, along with her Hufflepuff scarf. She scrubbed the makeup off her face and got into bed, sighing and daydreaming about all the possibilities until she fell asleep, dreaming of a faceless man standing in front of her.

\-------------------------------------------------------

On Christmas Day, Darcy was a nervous wreck. She knew she wasn't going to be meeting her secret admirer until midnight, but that made her even more anxious. She put on a marathon of her favorite Christmas movies to try and distract herself, including all of the Rankin-Bass movies (happily humming along to the Snow Miser/Heat Miser songs), Elf, the Santa Claus Trilogy and the first two Home Alone movies. She went to lunch in the main building and enjoyed everything and had fun chatting with everyone who came. Around 3 that afternoon she forced herself to take a nap, setting her alarm just in case so she didn't oversleep before she had time to get ready. 

She woke up around 8 PM and had a quick dinner of microwave macaroni and cheese and then grabbed her new oil diffuser and the Mellow Mind oil. She took it to the bathroom and set it up, starting it as she took her clothes off and started a bath. She grabbed her Philosophy Snowman bath wash and settled down to relax for a while, using the wash to wash her body and to silently hope the guy, whoever it was, could smell the scent on her later and be happy she was using one of the gifts he got her. 

She stayed in the bath until she got wrinkly and got out, brushing her teeth and drying her hair. Since she was wearing a beanie, she let it fall into her natural curly waves and brushed them out, giving her a sort of just got sexed up look. She put on some light makeup, including some dull red lipstick and then dressed. Just before she put on her cute black boots, she saw that it was 11:22 and groaned quietly. She sat down on the arm of her couch and got FRIDAY to bring up A Charlie Brown Christmas. She watched it until FRIDAY chimed in and told her she had five minutes to get up to the roof. Darcy cursed a blue streak and got her boots on before hauling ass to the elevator. She rode up and tried not to think about how high up she was as she stepped off and looked around. She frowned when she saw no one was up there but resolved to be patient. Maybe she was early. 

A throat cleared behind her, causing her to almost jump out of her skin. She turned around and gasped when she saw Clint standing there, wearing a more masculine version of the Christmas sweater she had on, along with some black jeans and sneakers. "You look just as good as I thought you would, even better actually."

"You..." Darcy gaped, taken off guard. She thought it over and then gasped. "Oh my God! You knew that I love Poky Puppy, you know my favorite animal, that I always wanted Philosophy, I...oh my God." 

"Disappointed?" Clint asked with a wry grin on his face, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Darcy darted over to him. "Are you kidding?!" She put her hands on the front of his sweater, glad the boots she had on gave her more height so she could look him in the eye and not have to look up at him. "I...I'm stunned. You know so much about me, you put so much thought into those presents and all I got you for Christmas was a lousy..." 

"Hey, I hope you know I'm going to get a lot of mileage out of that gift." Clint cut her off, looking at her with a fond smile.

"I should've suspected." Darcy mumbled. "The day after the Tony thing, the spa day..."

"That wasn't going to come until a few days later, but I thought you needed it." Clint said honestly.

"Oh I did, trust me, and it was perfect." Darcy promised. "So...what does this mean?" 

"Hopefully it means that you'll be my girlfriend." Clint said quietly. 

"I'd love nothing more." Darcy put her arms around him (letting him take his hands out of his pockets first) and she surged up and kissed him, her toes curling in her boots as she finally found out what it would be like. She'd had a crush on him since she first saw him back in Puente Antiguo and to finally be able to do what she'd been dreaming of (one of the things anyway) had her wanting to pinch herself. She gave into that temptation and pulled back with a yelp.

"What?" Clint asked, looking startled.

Darcy flushed. "I pinched myself to make sure all of this is real." 

Clint laughed heartily and hugged her close. "Merry Christmas, Darcy."

Darcy laid her head against his, smiling as she looked out over the New York skyline. "Merry Christmas, Clint."

**Author's Note:**

> Regarding Tony Stark. In this fic he goes into Darcy's office to harass her about putting up a picture frame in her apartment in Avengers Tower, and it ends with him having a big panic attack and Pepper making the decision that for his mental health he needs to go to an in patient therapy place to get better. I hope what I did with the character doesn't offend anyone, he was one of my favorites pre-Civil War movie, I just think he...has a lot of issues that he has to deal with and shouldn't be a part of a company, let alone be in charge of being Iron Man right now. If you disagree, you may want to skip this fic.


End file.
